Food delivery apps are convenient for you. But some of your favorite restaurants lose money

We tried food delivery services Postmates, UberEats, GrubHub and Mr. Delivery to see how they stack up.
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Manny Hernendez, a sous-chef at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville, checks a delivery order. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017(Photo11: Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ)Buy Photo

Annie Pettry, the chef-owner at Decca, is regularly confused when her restaurant receives takeout orders for dishes that are no longer featured on its revolving menu.

It’s not a very frequent occurrence, but it’s enough to get on the chef’s nerves. And she’s only grown more frustrated after identifying the issue’s root cause.

Postmates, an app-based food delivery service, has placed Decca on its list of restaurants available for delivery without getting Pettry’s permission, and the company is known to not regularly update seasonal menus across its platform.

The problem is not just annoying for Pettry and other Louisville restaurant owners facing the same problem. It's also a symptom of a growing industry that still hasn't quite figured out how to make money while also strengthening business at the independent restaurants its customers want to order from — instead of hurting the restaurants' slim profit margins.

“I know delivery is the way we are moving for all restaurants. That being said, their financial model doesn't work for independent businesses...”

Ryan Rogers, owner of Feast BBQ and Royals Hot Chicken

"I do a lot of outside consulting; I know delivery is the way we are moving for all restaurants," said Ryan Rogers, owner of Feast BBQ and Royals Hot Chicken. "That being said, their financial model doesn't work for independent businesses. Statistics show if there's a problem with the order, the customer doesn't take it out on Postmates. They take it out on us."

In Louisville, at least seven food delivery companies have launched services allowing you to order everything from burgers to escargot — including Postmates, UberEats, Mr. Delivery and GrubHub.

Most of the services work similarly: You place an order either through a website or phone app, and a delivery fee is added to your final tab. A driver with the company is dispatched to pick up your order, and you never have to leave your home or office.

For some restaurants, that model is great. They don't have to pay for their own drivers, and they get a stream of new business from customers who might not want to walk through the restaurant's doors.

However, the services don't come without a price. Specifically, they often require restaurants to fork over anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of each order's total sale.

When a company like UberEATS or Postmates offers to partner with a restaurant for 20 percent of each order, "we lose money every single transaction," Rogers said. "... It's not a marketing expense we can justify."

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The service is "great for driver partners who like the additional opportunities to drive, it's great for restaurants who get to serve a whole new group of consumers and existing consumers and it's great for the eaters because it expands their options a lot," Kennedy said. "It provides a lot of value to every person."

With most of the apps, restaurants will not be listed if they don't enter into a partnership contract.

But Postmates has thrown restaurants a curveball.

According to a 2015 Eater article, Postmates uses a Foursquare-linked system that allows users to either search for a certain restaurant or input an address into the system.

Restaurants can request removal from Postmates. But it doesn't do much good. If another user searches the restaurant's location, it will be added again, the article stated.

"My husband, who was the general manager at Decca, said he emailed twice to get us taken off, and they didn't," Pettry said. "He said he was getting calls from out-of-state numbers. He asked if they were Postmates, and they said they weren't, but they were ordering menu items that weren't on the menu anymore."

Griffin Paulin, the chef-owner of Mirin, said he doesn't have a problem with Postmates, especially since it's bringing customers to his relatively new business.

Paulin can tell when a takeout order has been placed through Postmates because drivers pay with a Postmates-issued credit card. He said his Frankfort Avenue restaurant generally receives at least seven individual and group Postmates orders each day, accounting for up to $90 of its daily sales.

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Julia Sheldon, a host at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville, takes a delivery order through Postmates using a tablet. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017
Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Christopher Bellez, a cook at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville, prepares a delivery order for a fried chicken sandwich with a side of fries. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

A fried chicken sandwich with a side of fries prepared at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville for a delivery order. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Manny Hernendez, a sous-chef at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville, checks a delivery order. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Trish Fugate, manager at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville, gets a delivery order ready for pick up. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville gets a delivery order ready for pick up. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Brent Van Kuiken, a bartender at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville, gives a delivery order to Postmates delivery driver Matt Robertson. Robertson has been working as a delivery driver for about a month and appreciates the ability to get a job using a phone app. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Nathan Stroess, left, a server at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville, gets a delivery order ready for pick up. Server Malcolm Bradshaw, center, and sous-chef Manny Hernendez get orders ready for restaurant customers. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Postmates delivery driver Matt Robertson picks up an order from Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

UberEats delivery driver Erin Bresnahan picks up an order from Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Nathan Stroess, a server at Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville, gets an order ready for pick up. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

UberEats delivery driver Erin Bresnahan picks up an order from Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

UberEats delivery driver Erin Bresnahan picks up an order from Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

Mr. Delivery driver Brittany Madry picks up an order from Doc Crow's Southern Smokehouse & Raw Bar in downtown Louisville. The restaurant prepares the food and a third party driver picks up the order and delivers it to the customer. Oct. 19, 2017 Angela Shoemaker, Special to CJ

"It comes down to how much is my time worth?" Frede said. "Is it worth the extra $5 or $10 in a delivery charge?"

Rogers said he understands that partnering with a delivery service is the way to go. But he'd like still to see companies like Postmates and UberEATS tweak their models to better benefit independent businesses before promising them any of his hard-won earnings.

"Those brands have to realize that having independent restaurants on their apps is important to people picking one over the other," Rogers said. "If I want to win that space, I'm going to partner with local restaurants and say how do we make this make sense for you?"